44 special loads 2400

Principal Purpose: Magnum handgun loads Secondary Uses: .22 Hornet and 218 Bee Remarks: Legendary for its performance in .44 Mag and other magnum pistol loads. 44 Special Load Data; 44 Remington Magnum Handgun Load Data; 45 Auto (ACP) Load Data; 45 Colt (Single Action Army & Replicas) Load Data; 45 Colt (Ruger & T/C Contender & Encore) Load Data; Cartridge Data; Components by Caliber; Nosler Home; Load Data 44 Special Load Data. pair was done by Hamilton Bowen. They all expanded well from start loads to finish loads with Unique. 44 Rem. The 44 Special: An Old Number Is Revitalized by Modern Loads, Smith & Wesson Performance Center Model 986, Springfield Armory XD-M Tactical 45 Review, The Bolt-Action Handy Rifle in 2021: Savage 110 Hog Hunter, 380 ACP Ammunition Testing: Bullet Development Continues, Twelve 22 Long Rifle Cartridges, Shot From a Rifle This Round, 9mm Barrel Lengths Compared In Range Performance Testing, 12-Gauge Mini Shells from Federal, Aguila, and Nobel, Gun Belts: Beat the Sag with Choices from Wright, Bigfoot, Quick-Release Extended Scope Mounts For Carbines & Rifles, BATFE Reclassifies ‘Honey Badger’ AR Pistols as SBRs, PROOF Research Introduces the $8500 Conviction Ti Long-Range Precision Tactical Rifle, Selective-Double-Action 9mm 3-Way Used-Handgun Shoot Out, Inside-the-Waistband Holsters: We Like Barber Leather Works. This offered a mix of size, weight, and barrel length. This load penetrated to 12 inches and exhibited the greatest expansion of any load tested at .79 inch. However, the Blazer load was a full 45 fps hotter than the Speer Gold Dot loading. This website contains many older reviews. Penetration is adequate at 12 inches. The Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Remington Magnum has always been a favorite revolver for sport and pleasure.Filled with .44 Magnum cartridges, it is ready for target practice or hunting. After verifying Ken’s Alliant 2400 recipe’s in a number of other manuals I decided to proceed. conversions on Three-Screw Ruger .357 Blackhawks are so popular; this . After a while, however, even the most recoil-tough shooter looks forward to toning things down a bit. 2400 is probably not the best choice for 44 Special. We rated it down half a grade on expansion, which probably aided its greater penetration. The Speer Gold Dot is readily available, and the 50-round Blazer makes for real economy. Even in the Bulldog, this load was docile. The 44 Special is a misunderstood cartridge. Some expanded well, some expanded, but not as well as the others. However the 200-grain JHP appears to be the same bullet used in the 44 Magnum loads and will not expand at 803 fps. However, as factory loaded with a 246-grain lead roundnose bullet at approximately 750 fps muzzle velocity, the .44 Spl. This bullet was also designed with a special crimp groove and the case mouth is heavily crimped, so this bullet will not jump crimp in the lightweight alloy revolvers, provided you rotate the unfired rounds and thus do not expose unfired rounds to the recoil of more than about 10 firings.” While Buffalo Bore also offers a heavy 255-grain semi-wadcutter for animal defense and a 180-grain JHP for hunting, we felt that the 190-grain SWC HP offered the best promise in personal defense. Using 2400 for .44 Special loads seems wasteful, and it's not really how 2400 was designed to be used. For some, the superior penetration of the XTP will be more appealing than the expansion of the Critical Defense load. With the 250 gr. Although The High Road has attempted to provide accurate information on the forum, The High Road assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information. On a basis of superior personal-defense performance and a fair price, this load gets our Best Buy nod and is probably the ideal urban load for the 44 Special. Cases for the .44 Special … According to the company’s website, “We developed this bullet to be soft (6 BHN) enough to mushroom at impact speeds around 750 fps, yet we wanted it hard enough (pure lead is 4 BHN) that it would not lead a normal revolver barrel. Gun Tests has been independently reviewing firearms since 1989. Put the same load in the 36-ounce Model 21 Smith & Wesson, and recoil is on the upper end of what most users are able to tolerate. Fireball. 429421 cast bullet to a muzzle velocity of 1,200 fps. I use 2400 with a 240 grain Nosler JHP in a .44 Special Ruger (not a SB) that gets 1010 fps in a 4 5/8" barrel. A very pleasant everyday load is assembled with Oregon Trail’s 240 SWC over 18.5 grains of #4227. I would like to emphasize that the idea behind these loads is not to red-line the .44 Special cartridge and extract “maximum performance” from it, but rather to combine the features of the Devastator HP with the .44 Special cartridge to create a moderate velocity hunting load capable of extracting reliable expansion from the Devastator HP. When the .44 Mag was introduced in 1955, Hercules 2400 and IMR 4227 soon became the most popular powders for .44 Magnum hand-loads. of 231 with a 240 gr. In fact, it retains its reputation as a shootable, accurate round, and it finds a home in many 44 Magnum cylinders as a training round. I agree completely with your write up on 2400’s versatility. The Bulldog may go out of time with a steady diet of anything other than standard-pressure loads. 16.0 grains of it in any cartridge from the 7.62×39 size, to 30/06 makes an accurate, efficient loading. Neither The High Road nor any of its directors, members, managers, employees, agents, vendors, or suppliers will be liable for any direct, indirect, general, bodily injury, compensatory, special, punitive, consequential, or incidental damages including, without limitation, lost profits or revenues, costs of replacement goods, loss or damage to data arising out of the use or inability to use this forum or any services associated with this forum, or damages from the use of or reliance on the information present on this forum, even if you have been advised of the possibility of such damages. does not engender a reputation as a "hot" cartridge. Shooting these little carbines is a pleasant experience with all loads tested. Powders include Winchester, Hodgdon, IMR We rated this load down on price and recoil. The bullet sailed through 24 inches of water without expanding. For the mild .44 special loads, I recommend all lead bullets and loads that produce 700-850 FPS speeds. Further, in the Charter Arms Bulldog at 20 ounces, only lighter loads should be used. The aluminum-case Blazer load is offered in 50-round boxes and is generally regarded as a practice load. We bought this lead semi-wadcutter hollow-point round at BuffaloBore.com for $40.34/20. 80 powder. All Palmetto Reloading Gear/Accessories! This was with the old Hercules 2400 --- It's suggested to drop the load .5 grain with the slightly hotter Alliant 2400. This solid-copper DPX bullet expanded in the classic fashion. Forgot to mention, Speer makes a GOLD DOT bullet (200 grain) that is designed to open at .44 special velocities. We feel that it would have been pointless to fire these loads in a 44 Magnum revolver with a heavy barrel underlug and target grips and declare them controllable. I should have loaded up some 231 to begin with. 22 Hornet. This is the most accurate load tested. 2400 is a more of a magnum powder, & as you saw, leaves lots of unburned powder is low power loads. The brass-cased Speer product looked to be a step behind the less-expensive Blazer version with a Gold Dot bullet — not what was expected. Palmettostatearmory. The 180-grain XTP is loaded to 887 fps and seems well suited to all revolvers. Penetration was deepest of all loads, save the Fiocchi load, which did not expand. In the bigger gun, the balance of penetration and expansion cannot be criticized. The XTP is accurate and affordable as well. While this powder is supposed to be ideal for 9mm, .45 ACP and .38 Special, I was in the process of developing a .44 Special load using Oregon Trail’s Lasercast 240-grainers for my Ruger GP100, with the Smith & Wesson 629 in there so I could compare speed from … Dies are made by virtually everybody, and for years they have been configured to accommodate both Special as well as Magnum cases with minor die adjustments. 32 H&R Magnum. We bought this from MidwayUSA.com for $32/50 rounds, but Midway no longer stocks it. When Hercules 2400 powder (now Alliant) became available in 1932, he switched and was able to reach 1,200 fps in a Smith & Wesson New Century and a highly customized Colt Single Action Army, which was significantly greater power than any other period sixgun load. load of 2400 sounds OK for starter loads. We were able to obtain and test seven loads. The Cor-Bon DPX penetrated 18 inches of water and came to rest just inside a fourth jug. While none of the Blazer Gold Dot loads failed to expand, expansion was the least consistent of all loads tested. 10mm Auto. We knocked the Speer down another half grade below the Blazer because it cost more and deliver less, in our opinion. Expansion was good, in league with the Cor-Bon DPX and slightly less than the Buffalo Bore load. We thought it offered good control of the firearms. The difference in Special and Magnum case lengths is .125 inch, and Redding includes a washer of that thickness to use under the die lock ring that makes switching calibers easier. The .44 S&W Special was originally loaded with a 246-grain lead RN bullet over 26.0 grains of black powder for a muzzle velocity of 780 fps, which was a ballistic improvement over its parent cartridge, the .44 Russian. Loaded with a 246-grain round-nose lead bullet at about 800 fps, the Special is mild enough and accurate in good, tight revolvers. Gotta love the .44 Special! Factory 44 Special loads with 240 grain lead bullets are already pretty docile if not downright pathetic. This bullet accomplishes both requirements. This load was rivaled in accuracy only by the Fiocchi 200-grain JHP. The "Skeeter" load of 7.5 grs. A recent test of several 44 Special loads suggests that the old round is rocking along quite well, thank you very much. In two instances, the red polymer nose was found beside the expanded bullet, so the nose plug, designed to promote expansion, appears to work as designed. That doesn’t mean the 44 Special is dead. I will NEVER, EVER use Bullseye nor any other low-weight powder for large-cased cartridges. A simple Special load that I use is 7.0 grs. 410 . I load Alliant Power Pistol for 200 and 240 grain JHPs and H2400 (old stock) for 255 grain Hardcasts using Pearce's loads -- very accurate and brings the 44 Special up to … A 48-ounce Smith & Wesson Model 29 is docile when fired with the Cor-Bon 200-grain DPX load, as an example. When I duplicated his load using the older style brass and 2400, I got just over 1,200 fps from a 7-1/2-inch barrel. 45 Colt. 3-9) Heavy .44 Special loads using the NEI 260 Keith bullet show why .44 Special . The bullet actually penetrated two water jugs in line but bounded off the third jug. While the 44 Special Bulldog isn’t going to blow up, the revolver cylinder is strong enough for 44 Special loads, small parts take a beating. Also tested: 180- and 200-grain loads from Speer, Cor-Bon, Blazer, and Fiocchi. It's simply too easy to double charge. Never meant to be a powerhouse, the 44 Special was introduced as a counterpoint to the 44-40 WCF and the 45 Colt. Still, this load is acceptable for personal defense. Are you loading your 315 gr bullets to max cylinder length and what velocities are you getting? You'd probably have much more enjoyment from a faster burning powder. Marlin also made a special run of Trapper-style 1894 carbines in .44 Magnum with a 16-1/2″ barrel, full magazine tube holding seven or eight rounds, a recoil pad on its straight gripped stock, checkering on forearm and buttstock and excellent sights. The Hornady 165-grain Critical Defense is the top load in the lighter revolver and a contender in any 44 Special. The .44 Special was introduced in about 1907 and is an extremely accurate cartridge. of Unique in a 44 Special case and a 240-250 grain bullet is sometimes slightly over SAAMI specs but it doesn't worry me in modern guns. The best performer is pricey. All information is provided "as is" with all faults without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. At the same place, we bought the Speer Gold Dot for $1.44 a round, or $29/20. Keith bullet, a charge of 18.5 grs. The lack of expansion pushed the load’s rating down. The 180-grain XTP penetrated a solid 18 inches of water and expanded to .52 inch diameter. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. Any lover of the .44 special should have both the Handloader issue #260 mentioned above and Handloader issue #236 (August 2005). 480 Ruger. During the test, the action pin came loose and was pressed back in. To our eyes, the Hornady FTX is nearly as affordable and expanded more, but Gold Dot fans will find much to love in the 44 Special Blazer load. To assess the shooting-comfort range of various loads, our test guns this time included the Smith & Wesson Model 21-4 44 Special with a 4-inch barrel and the Charter Arms Bulldog with 2.5-inch barrel. of H4227 is about the equivalent of 16.5 grs. One thing for certain: If you carry a lightweight 44 Special such as the Charter Arms Bulldog revolver, then you must choose loads carefully. 327 Federal Magnum. We finally caught a bullet in the berm. Reloading the .44 Special is an uncomplicated delight. 2400: Select A Caliber or Gauge Below To View Recipes. This would be the recommended loading in the Charter Arms Bulldog. Rifle Cartridges. The Cor-Bon DPX is a good load, but recoil is heavy. However, .44 Special loads are so mild, you can really use whatever you want to. 44 Special Load Data. A military-surplus powder produced by Hercules during the war for the .30 Carbine called H240 was a bit quicker burning than 2400, but it delivered higher velocities and burned cleaner. The Buffalo Bore load maximizes the cartridge, we felt, and was well suited to the heavier revolver. If greater penetration than the FTX is needed, the XTP load is recommended in the Bulldog. In the tradition of the 44’s light recoil, the Fiocchi load is pleasant to fire and affordable, but doesn’t offer great terminal performance. Ammunition performance of the loads tested in the Bulldog was not appreciably different than their performance in the 4-inch-barrel revolver. But what of wheelguns chambered just for the Special? This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. This was the hardest-kicking load of the test. 500 S&W Magnum. Canister Sizes: View All 2400 ® … The top end load penetrated about 3" of the wet phone book. of Alliant's #2400. I use 9.5 gr 2400 with a 315 gr cast. At 905 fps in the lighter gun, the FTX retained most of its expansion properties. Primer seal and cartridge integrity may not be the same as the brass case Speer loading. 218 Bee. 38 Special +P. This load is within normal saami specs. 41 Rem. Some of the loads tested below are strong loads, probably best used in heavy-duty 44 Magnum revolvers. Discussion in 'Handloading and Reloading' started by 4895, Apr 16, 2012. Performance was slightly degraded in the Bulldog revolver. Keith’s early .44 Special loads contained the 250-grain cast bullet pushed 1,100 fps using DuPont No. I would defer to Hodgdon data for the .44 Special, although my deep seated loads in mag brass approximate COL for .44 Special. I'm trying to get things ready for whenever my new .44 Special SA Blackhawk w/4 5/8" barrel gets in. Magnum. We bought this load at MidwayUSA.com for $18/20, or 90 cents a round. Experimentation by enthusiastic hand-loaders vastly improved the power of the cartridge, but those trials also wrecked quite a few revolvers in the process. In a pair of S&W 83/8″ .44 Magnums, this load clocks out … .44 Special (Hodgdon Data) reloading data with 130 loads. This load offers interesting performance. Just settled on 231/HP-38 for light and HS-6 for a bit more steam, while maintaining accuracy. To familiarize yourself with your new gun you could just buy a box of .44 Specials and shoot those (I have not had any problem with the "special ring" left in the cylinder from shooting specials in magnums). Accuracy was acceptable to good, and the Blazer averaged 13 inches of penetration and expanded to .70 caliber when shot from the Model 21-4. 357 Magnum. While there were good loads tested, in the end the best all-round loading is a matter of personal choice. I'd offer more choices, but you didn't say what bullet you're using. Here’s how each round performed. While the power factor of this load and the Buffalo Bore load were similar, the Cor-Bon kicked noticeably harder. We bought these at MidwayUSA.com for $38/20, or $1.90 a round. I don't want to reinvent the wheel so would like to have recommendations for some of the best powder to use with 240gr. A continuation of Smith & Wesson’s 44 Smith & Wesson Russian, the more powerful 44 Special was intended to be a mild-mannered and accurate big-bore cartridge. The .44 Special . 460 S&W Magnum. Once the 44 Magnum revolver was introduced, the need for such heavy loads was eliminated, in our opinion. 221 Rem. You have entered an incorrect email address! 2400 is also a main powder for cast boolit rifle shooters. revolvers. The 15 gr. Frankly, we were surprised by the performance. It is a best buy contender for practice use. At $32 for 50 rounds, we feel this is the best practice load and most economical. We bought the CCI load for $42.50 for 50 rounds, or 83 cents a round, at MidwayUSA.com. Another excellent powder that gets a lot of use for heavy loads in the .44 Special is Hogdon's H4227. 17 Caliber.172” Diameter. Most .44 Special factory loads are downright feeble and any modern revolver (even a Taurus) should be able to do better. This is a heavy load that was controllable in the Model 21-4 by experienced shooters, and we did not fire it in the Bulldog. Recoil is modest, even light, due to the light bullet traveling at 980 fps velocity in the 21-4’s 4-inch barrel. Never meant to be a powerhouse, the 44 Special was introduced as a counterpoint to the 44-40 WCF and the 45 Colt. Between it and Unique, you can load the 44 from a 38 Special power load, up to a full power magnum. Using bullets from Cast LRNFP, Nosler JHP, Berry's Bullets FP, Cast LSWC. Most of us who handload can do MUCH better and still sleep well at night. The Bulldog fills a real need for a powerful and compact revolver, but do not push your luck. I have a load of 17.0 under a Lynan 429421 cast from wheel weights that works well in 2 of my .44 mag. Accuracy was excellent, and the load demonstrated a full, clean powder burn. As with the old .45 Colt, there are plenty old & beautiful .44 Special revolvers which must NEVER be fed bumped up loads. This is the fastest load of the bunch at 1100 fps average, right on the money, with acceptable accuracy. Many .44 Magnum shooters actually shoot .44 Special loads in their bigger, heavier sixguns and would get along quite well with a .44 Special. This issue also has an article by Brian Pearce on the .44 Special, with loads at various pressure levels. Written and photographed by Gun Tests staff, using evaluations from Gun Tests team testers. Magnum. We bought this round at MidwayUSA.com for $17.50 per 20 rounds, or 87 cents a round. 43-10) Whether shooting Skeeter’s load or the standard .44 Special load, this 3 rd Generation Colt Single Action does all anyone could expect. 44 S&W Special. I shot 3 different bullets through a gallon of water and captured in water soaked phone book. Recoil was a negative factor with this revolver. This mild-mannered load hedges the bets and is safe to use in any 44 Special revolver. A continuation of Smith & Wesson s 44 Smith & Wesson Russian, the more powerful 44 Special was intended to be a mild-mannered and accurate big-bore cartridge. Fireball. The Hornady 180-grain XTP offers a good mix of control, expansion, and penetration and would also serve in either revolver. If control is at a premium, then this load is worth your consideration. 30 M1 Carbine. Recoil was not a problem in the Smith & Wesson revolver. Because they both used the same bullet, we considered them together, which left us in a quandary. He discusses the balloon head 44 Russian and black powder origins up to what are still considered great 44 special loads today. SWC, for 950 FPS in my Mountain Gun. Are there powerful-enough loads out there to make it a backwoods-suitable carry gun? I have been looking for load data for my Ruger Flattop 44 Special using 300 gr cast. A long-time favorite powder for big bore sixguns, .44 Special, .44 Magnum and .45 Colt, has been Hodgdon’s #4227. This load of 15.6 grains is listed in my 2nd Edition-1st Printing Hornady manual. The heavier loads might quickly turn the Bulldog into a rattling wreck, and for our shooters, were uncontrollable to fire in this light revolver. The cartridge was the fine, old .44 S&W Special stoked with hand-loads that pushed the 250-grain Lyman/Keith No. This article is a MUST READ if you want to pursue warm 44 Special loads in the FlatTop. By dropping bullet weight to up velocity and using a well-designed lead bullet, Buffalo Bore has produced a load with the best terminal ballistics in the test. 454 Casull. It's best to … 221 Rem. Buffalo Bore takes advantage of the expansion qualities of lead when cast fairly soft. The Buffalo Bore 190-grain LSWCHP and the Hornady Critical Defense 165-grain FTX are standouts. Unless otherwise noted, these reviews carry the guns’ prices at the time of the original review. For use in either revolver, this load is a good all-round choice. This load is affordable and accurate, but there are better choices for personal defense. The 44 Special is a misunderstood cartridge. I mostly stick with Hodgdon for some reason. Appropriate powders for the .44 Special in the Colt Single Action include Unique, 2400 and 4227. The .44 Russian is a very fine target cartridge, but neither it nor the .44 American which is now about obsolete, needs to be discussed here, as the .44 Special will do all that either of these shorter cartridges will do and a great deal more either on the target or for more serious sixgun work. The total front area of the bullet was also the greatest of any load tested. We did not fire all of the loads in the Charter Arms Bulldog revolver. You’ll recall that in the October 2020 issue, I cut-and-pasted almost all of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s gun-regulation plans listed on his website, with... Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. W231 is good one. The practical field and carry revolvers used in the test provide a thorough outlook on ammunition selection. This load combines excellent penetration and expansion. When the new solid brass arrived in the 1950’s, Keith cut his load down to 17.5 grains of 2400. For any loads over 900 FPS, I suggest using a jacketed bullet.

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